Bryan M. Westhoff

Bryan M. Westhoff is Counsel in Kaye Scholer’s Complex Commercial Litigation Department. He has experience litigating a wide variety of complex domestic and international commercial law cases involving: mergers and acquisitions, securities law, antitrust, intellectual property, insurance/reinsurance, environmental contamination, ERISA, and general contract and tort law. Bryan has argued before multiple federal and state courts, including arguing successfully before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has significant experience in expedited litigation, and has personally prepared and argued motions for preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order.

Bryan’s recent major cases include:

Represented Artemis S.A. and its affiliates against fraud claims seeking damages in excess of $1 billion arising out of the rehabilitation of Executive Life Insurance Company

Represented American Airlines in litigation against a GDS related to American’s announced termination of Orbitz’s ticketing authority

Represented FinishLine Inc. in litigation brought by its investment bank related to the break-up of an announced $1.5 billion merger between FinishLine and Genesco

Represented BP’s savings and pension plans in breach of fiduciary duties claims against their ERISA investment manager for losses resulting from securities lending

Represented BP against indemnification claims brought by ConocoPhillips related to alleged environmental contamination at a gas processing plant and separation station

Represented the court-appointed receiver of Wextrust Capital and its related companies after management was arrested for perpetrating a $255 million international Ponzi scheme

Represented Eaton in litigation against an independent service provider in the UPS aftermarket to enforce Eaton’s intellectual property rights in proprietary service software, and against antitrust counterclaims alleging attempted monopolization of the service aftermarket

Represented an international steel manufacturer against a breach of contract claim related to the manufacturing of specialty steel used in heavy-duty off-road dump trucks

Represented shareholders in a derivative action brought on behalf of an engineering consulting company

Represented the Republic of Ghana in defense of breach of promise and other quasi-contractual claims related to airplanes leased by Ghana Airways

Represented Clarendon at trial against its reinsurer related to $150 million of losses resulting from a non-standard auto insurance program

Bryan is committed to pro bono work. In 2009, he was awarded the Lisa Beth Deutsch Pro Bono Award for his outstanding service on behalf of pro bono clients. Some of his recent pro bono cases include:

Represented a legal and permanent resident alien pro bono on the request of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Represented pro bono claimants in litigation seeking the return of their life savings after it was confiscated by the federal government

Bryan graduated in the top 15% of his class from Washington University School of Law in 2002. He was on the Dean’s List for five of his six semesters, won the Honor Scholar Award in 2001, and was a member of the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy. He graduated cum laude from Truman State University in 1999 with a B.A. in political science.

During his final semester of law school, Bryan worked full-time as an intern with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Staff in Washington, DC. While working at the Department of Justice, he drafted appellate briefs for pending cases, drafted certiorari recommendations for the Office of the Solicitor General, and participated in mock oral arguments to prepare the DOJ attorneys for their hearings.

He currently serves as President of the Executive Board of Directors for The Center for International Performance and Exhibition (aka HotHouse), a Chicago area not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing international music and the arts to a wide range of Chicago communities.

Prior to joining the firm, Bryan served as Counsel at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.